


Coming Home

by solarishashernoseinabook



Category: Ranger's Apprentice - John Flanagan
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Halt misses his family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:40:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23321830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solarishashernoseinabook/pseuds/solarishashernoseinabook
Summary: Halt finds a way to have a reunion with Caitlyn twenty years after her death
Relationships: Caitlyn O'Carrick & Halt O'Carrick, Halt O'Carrick & Sean O'Carrick
Comments: 11
Kudos: 27
Collections: RA Fanfiction Challenge #2





	Coming Home

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Aseikh for beta reading!

_‘Boo!’_

_Halt dropped his book in his lap. Caitlyn was hanging from her knees from the tree above him. She laughed and swung herself up so she was sitting on the branch. ‘You’re so oblivious sometimes, Halt.’_

_‘I’ve got more important things to do than watch you all the time,’ he said with a huff._

_Caitlyn laughed._

* 

Caitlyn’s laughter echoed in Halt’s ears as he woke up. Being in Hibernia was bringing back all sorts of old memories and Halt couldn’t look at anything without it bringing him back in time thirty years. 

When they first arrived, when he had seen Ferris again for the first time in decades, it had only been bad memories coming back. Each and every time Ferris had tried to kill him came back to him over those nights. Now Ferris was dead, and with him went all the bad dreams. Now Halt was dreaming of his time with Caitlyn, or his parents, or his childhood friends. Being back was emphasising how much he had left behind when he went to Araluen, and how different everyone was from how he remembered them. 

He rolled out of his blankets and stepped out of his tent. Sean had offered them rooms at the castle, but there were too many memories there. The fire was burning, the kettle nestled amongst the flames, and the smell of coffee wafted to him. Horace was sitting near the fire and occasionally poking it with a stick, still exhausted from having had the last watch. Will was digging through their food supplies. 

‘Morning,’ he said, not turning around. ‘I was gonna do a bit of hunting after breakfast, and Sean said he’s got some vegetables to give us on the way back. I figure you can swing by there while I hunt and then we head out –’ 

‘No,’ Halt said. Will looked back at him. ‘No?’ 

‘We can’t go yet,’ Halt said. The boys looked at him. ‘Sean’s coronation is at the end of the week, and as representatives of King Duncan, we need to make a presence. It’s diplomatic.’ 

‘We’re not representatives,’ Horace said. 

‘Will and I are his rangers. You’re a knight at the castle. We’re representatives,’ Halt said stubbornly. 

Will grinned. ‘If I didn’t know you so well, I’d almost believe you didn’t make that all up just now. But I’m pretty sure we can get away with that.’ 

Halt grinned and sat down, pouring himself coffee and adding liberal amounts of honey. Almost instantly his mood dimmed and he went back to thinking about his dream. That had been from before Ferris had started trying to kill him. He hadn’t been on pleasant terms with his brother, but he didn’t have to be on edge all the time, and Caitlyn had enjoyed pranking him. Later that day she had put a pie under his seat cushion. It was when they were going for their music lessons, and after that… 

‘Halt?’ 

Halt looked up into Will’s concerned face. He abruptly realised there were tears in his eyes. He dashed them away, but Horace had noticed now too and moved to sit next to him. ‘Halt, what’s wrong?’ 

‘Nothing,’ Halt said gruffly. ‘Coffee’s too hot, that’s all.’ 

‘That’s bullshit and you know it,’ Horace said. ‘You could stick a hot coal in your mouth and not cry. Now what’s really going on?’ 

Will sat on his other side. ‘…I heard you say “Caitlyn” last night. Did you dream about her?’ 

‘How did I end up with the nosiest apprentice in the corps?’ Halt muttered. 

He was surprised to feel a hand on his shoulder and turned. Will smiled at him. ‘You can be honest with us, Halt,’ he said softly. ‘I know you’ve been doing that a lot since this whole thing started, but…’ 

Halt swirled his coffee in his mug and took a sip to stall for time. Neither of them would fully understand, they had been orphaned too young. Horace might, he thought, but Will… 

Halt shook himself. He was still stalling. 

‘I was hoping…’ He took another sip of coffee. ‘I was hoping to see Caitlyn again. We were close. And being here…meeting Sean…he looks like her, you know. Has the same smile. Same laugh.’ 

Will and Horace sat in silence. Halt had been so detached this whole trip, relating the facts as they had happened with so few emotions behind them. They both knew if they said anything now, it would be over. 

‘I suppose part of me was hoping to see her again. I left a lot of people behind, but she was the only one I really wanted to see. Have a bit of a reunion, talk about old times, throw Ferris in the moat. But…’ He sipped his coffee again. 

There were several moments of silence before Will stood. ‘I’ll spend today hunting. Why don’t you…take some time to yourself?’ 

For once Horace got the hint and stood. ‘Yeah, I’ll, uh, go hunt as well.’ 

Grateful, Halt drained his coffee and left. 

* 

Halt hadn’t had to ask where Caitlyn was buried. All royals in Hibernia were buried on the north edge of the castle grounds, and he went there now. He saw Sean standing at a grave which he realised must be Caitlyn’s, and heard him talking in a low voice. To avoid interrupting, he looked at the other gravestones. 

There was a fresh grave, the soil still soft from where it had been freshly turned, which was Ferris’ grave; Halt walked past it without pausing. He did stop briefly at the ones next to it, for his mother and father. He saw a grave labelled “Halt O’Carrick”, with his date of death listed as the day he ran away, and he moved quickly past that one too. This brought him close enough to reach out and touch Sean if he wanted, but decades of ranger training meant Halt couldn’t move loudly if he tried, and Sean, not realising he was there, kept speaking. 

‘I’m going to miss him when he’s gone. We haven’t really had a chance to speak, what with everything going on here. After all you said about him, finally meeting him is like…’ Sean was quiet for a long time. ‘Anyway. I’ll be going, Mom.’ 

Halt realised, altogether too late, that he should probably have said something. Sean turned on his heel and nearly walked right into Halt. He fell back with a scream and Halt had to grab him to stop him falling right over the gravestones. 

‘Sorry.’ Halt grinned and pulled him upright. ‘Just thought I’d come round and…’ His grin faded. ‘Anyway, I’ll leave you to it.’ 

‘No, no, it’s okay.’ Sean straightened his clothes. ‘Actually, I was hoping to talk to you again. Er, how much did you hear?’ 

‘Just the last little bit.’ Halt looked down at the grave. ‘…She spoke about me, huh?’ 

‘Yeah. I kinda felt like I knew you. At least, the younger you.’ 

They spent some time looking down at the grave. It was a while before either of them spoke again. 

‘Can you tell me about her? What you remember of her, I mean,’ Sean. ‘Losing you – I think it affected her a lot. I want to know what she was like before all that.’ 

Halt was quiet a moment longer. ‘On one condition.’ 

Sean looked over at him. 

Halt smiled. ‘Tell me what you remember of her, too.’ 

**Author's Note:**

> We need WAY more of Halt's family in this series and if Flagafaff isn't giving that to us I'm gonna make it myself dammit


End file.
